Windows 11 slow warning sounds problem. A work around.
The problem.
My latest computer is a Lenovo all in one with Realtek audio. I almost
immediately noticed the warning sounds were delayed by about 1 second.
This did not occur with my generic Vista machine or a windows 10 Lenovo
laptop. The easiest way to see this problem on my Lenovo all in one is
to press the Caps lock key. The Caps lock light comes on immediately
but the sound is delayed. If the key is depressed again within about 5
seconds it has no delay, but leave it a little longer and the delay
returns. This exact problem was described by JimJoat on the Dell
community forum in 2018. This problem affects all alert tones, for
example the tone when the volume level is changed. This problem is a
pain when using a spell
checker that sounds an alert on
error as you have typed an extra word before the error sound occurs. The
warning tone in Windows is like the stop lights on your car. How would
you feel if the stop lights on your new car delayed a second or so
before coming on?
The work around.
Googling revealed that the delay does not occur if a media player is
playing. The work around is to repeat play a silent
audio file and to do this in an unobtrusive way. The latest windows 11
media player is of no use for this purpose as I could not automatically
start it in repeat play mode. The previous version does not suffer this
feature but I decided to use VLC.
If you want to use VLC as your multimedia player you would have to set
it to repeat playing silence after you finished. In this case you might
try using the
older version of Windows media player to repeat play the silent audio
file.
Down-load and install VLC media player.
Down-load a silent audio file in .WAV format about 30 seconds long. http://duramecho.com/Misc/SilentCd/index.html
Use VLC to convert the file to .FLAC format. (this leaves the normal .mp3 and .wav for windows media player or other)
Set VLC to repeat mode. Close VLC.
Store the .FLAC file somewhere convenient.
Navigate to the .FLAC file and right click, select OPEN WITH, then CHOOSE ANOTHER APP and set VLC to always open .FLAC files.
Right click on the .FLAC file and drag it to the desk-top and CREATE SHORTCUT.
Right click the short-cut and select PROPERTIES. In the shortcut tab set RUN MINIMISED.
Press the windows key and R. In the open box enter SHELL:STARTUP and OK
Drag the short-cut from the desk-top to the just opened start folder.
Restart the computer and check that there is no delay.
Comments welcome. peter@poppasplace.au
1/05/2024